Sachiko

Endō Shūsaku, whose earlier novel Silence explored the suffering of Japanese Christians across different eras, turns in this book to another such period. Set in Nagasaki between 1930 and 1945, it follows two young Christians, Sachiko and Shūhei, as they attempt to build a romance while their faith makes them suspect in a nation drifting toward war.

In the early 1930s the pair move freely among the American children of their neighborhood. As Japan begins its campaigns of aggression, however, daily life grows harder for them and for other believers. Shūhei faces military conscription, which collides with his conviction that taking a life is sinful, and his dilemma sharpens as the situation worsens.

The narrative also moves to Europe. Father Maximillian Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan who had once been a missionary in Nagasaki, is arrested after returning home and sent to Auschwitz. Endō alternates between his two settings, linking the priest's fate with the lovers' struggle in Nagasaki, where their love is threatened by mounting persecution.

The novel portrays ordinary people trying to live out their faith in wartime, with the atomic bombing of Nagasaki looming in the background. Its emphasis falls on characters who strive to find love and to give it to others under conditions that make everyday existence almost unbearable.